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New iPhone, Web Tools to Help People Navigate Scotiabank Nuit Blanche

By Susan O'Neill
Posted October 1, 2009, 4:42 PM EDT

TORONTO
Attendees at the fourth annual Scotiabank Nuit Blanche—the City of Toronto's all-night celebration of contemporary art that takes place from 6:55 p.m. Saturday until sunrise on Sunday—will have access to a brand new interactive tool designed to help them navigate the event. Known as the Night Navigator, the tool is an app available to iPhone and BlackBerry users that combines camera and GPS capabilities.

When a participant takes a photograph of the Capturefy icon on a project sign at one of the 130 installations throughout the city, the Night Navigator will then track the individual's location and link them to specific event content. Users will be able to access project details and nearby transit routes, receive directions to nearby projects, post reviews of installations, and plan their itinerary.

“We have created the ability for iPhone and BlackBerry device users to experience the event in an entirely different way,” said Bill McLean, co-founder of POIfriend, who collaborated on the initiative with Simply Good Technologies and pitched the idea to event sponsor Scotiabank.

Also new this year is the My Night tool, available on the event Web site. Powered by Devlin eBusiness Architects, it enables attendees to build a personal itinerary that can be shared through sites like Facebook and viewed from any Web-enabled hand-held device.

“We encourage people to plan ahead,” said Miki Stricker-Talbot, programming supervisor with the City of Toronto. “We have 130 projects by 500 artists, so it's impossible to see everything.” Event organizers expect more than one million people to participate in the event this year.